DVD Review HTF REVIEW: The War of the Worlds (1953) - Special Collector's Edition (Recommended) (1 Viewer)

[Ed St. Clair]

I never owned/saw the previous DVD. I was always waiting for an improved audio/visual transfer. From the reviews I read (thanks DVDBasen) this DVD is a slightly (more of a refinement rather than a huge improvement) better video transfer. With the addition of a two channel surround mix (what I was really waiting for).

I can not believe how great this transfer looks!!! :-o

Although, I was scared to death with the PQ of the newsreels in the opening!

The skintones have that rudy technicolor look, however the grain & defects are at such a minimum, it looks fantastic. I would have been happy with the quality of the film as seen in the documentaries or even the trailer. The slight ringing, keeps this from being "reference". But, come on, this 'old girl' looks great (just like its female lead).

Super happy with the look & extras (Mercury Theater on the Air, priceless!).

The pre-release talk, had this w/o the Chase stereo track. Word was the original stereo was lost forever. On the commentary, they say its great to have the stereo back. Just hearing the difference between the mono & stereo on the opening of the 'meteor' was enough to win me over!

Where does this great sounding stereo come from?

 

[DaViD Boulet]

agreed.

I'm presuming this stereo track is the same as the laserdisc (Chase) but I'd love to know more.


I didn't notice any ringing in my system. What's your display chain like?

 

[dpippel]

While this transfer indeed looks good FOR A FILM OF IT'S TIME, I don't think it could be considered reference. It does look very, very nice though. Very filmlike. As for ringing, I noticed none whatsoever on my display (ISF'd Hitachi 57SWX20B). That's one of the reasons WOTW looks so great.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Tosh, Tosh!
SD-5700 Apature S-Video CF-36H40
The "ringing" I experienced was easiest to detect around human heads against a blue sky backround. Early scenes with our hero at the crash site, for instance. On my display from my normal viewing distances, it certainly was not a problem to advertly affect my visual experience. Was it EE? Not that I know of. It did not have the hard white outline I see with EE. Just a slight, light outline around the edges. Very pleased with my $8.99 purchase. Just not a reference, to me, compared to todays sources. It sure raised the bar, for me, for 50's SciFi!!!

 

[AlexCremers]

Matte-lines, which, back in 1977, the fresh theatrical prints didn't show in the first place.

 

[Kevin M]

It's also worth noting (although I'm sure this is not a revelation to most) that even in the new DVD's of the SE's many of the matte lines are still there if you have your brightness/black levels on your monitor turned up too high so they didn't exactly do a complete "scrubbing" of these mattes, but simply adjusting the black level takes care of this.
In fact on many of the films of the optical era if you just adjust the black level appropriately you shouldn't see the matte lines very prominently, Dragonslayer for example is one title that I have heard some people here complaining about as far as visible matte lines go, but I personally don't see the mattes very much when I watch that DVD.



Now as far as the wires in WOTW....yeah, I see them with these new transfers more than I ever did before...and I would be lying if I said it didn't take me out of the film a little bit when I see the amazing amount of wires they had to use to suspend the ships, they are prominent.

 

[Sam Davatchi]

Saw this tonight. I have a vague memory of watching it when I was very little and I remember that it freaked the hell out of me then!

To be controversial, I also wouldn’t have mind it if they had removed the wires digitally. Actually I would have preferred it if they had done it for this release.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

We all know it was not the intention of the film makers to see the wires. The resolution of this presentation exceeds that of the projected image. Where, in a theater in '53 they would not have been as visible.
Like the floating pen in 2001.

 

[Dave Mack]

Ed, I saw what you're talking about as well.

Watched this for the first time in years last nite. Lots of fun, but man, the wires....! Felt like an Ed Wood Film at times. I'm sorry, I'm all for preserving but this is one case where I would have accepted a tweak. I found that I wasn't even watching the beautifully designed ships, I was just staring at the VERY noticeable wires all the time.


:frowning: d

 

[Johnny Angell]

The design of the ships is timeless, and they ended up being melted down in a Boy Scout copper drive. The movie was a big hit, doesn't anyone have any concept of preserving film history? Couldn't they have sold them to a collector, if they didn't want to store them?

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Hmmm... I haven't bought the new disc yet, but maybe I shouldn't have sold off the old one for big buck$...

I can't believe I'm saying this either, but if those wires turn out to be so noticeable, I'd vote for digital erasure too - in this case.

 

[Jack Briggs]

You know, come on. Let's watch the film as is and enjoy it. Yep, I see the wires. Nope, my enjoyment of this fine film is not diminished one bit. Nice review.

 

[Kevin M]

They are pretty damn noticeable Joe, I'm sorry to say.
Normally it wouldn't bother me I guess but damn they used a LOT of them.

 

[MichaelScott]

It wouldn't stop at the wires...besides maybe I was just focused on the film and not something like that but I didn't think it was that bad..frankly I didn't notice them at all. heck ya know what?, the lead actress would be better as a blonde..so let's just change that a bit too.
I never thought I would say this but there are times now I sympathize with the studios after reading these boards..damn if they do damned if they don't. It looks great for a 50's film but now you want them to clean up wires too..I would rather they move their attention to another film that hassn't been released yet.

 

[Kevin M]

I can't speak for the others but it seems to me that many of the people that are noticing the wires are not the type who normally complain about such things. Sorry if it offends some purists but in this particular case the wires did take me out of the film a bit....(shrugs shoulders) just throwing in my two cents...that's what the forums are for.

 

[seanOhara]

What really surprised me is when Dante said Paramount had junked a massive amount of props as recently as the '80s. The new Wizard of Oz DVD made a point of the big MGM auction in the '70s, so it's not like the studio didn't know there was a lucrative market for movie memorabilia.

 

[Dave Mack]

Wires aside, (and I DO tend to overlook film flubs, gaffes whatever but they are so CLEARLY visible in the vast majority of shots that I can't help it. The scene where the minister gets zapped looks... can anyone do a screen cap?) Unless they severely altered the brightness on this film for newer transfers, I can't believe that they looked at these dailies and said, "yup. Looks good. Can't see the wires." But what do I know. STILL a great film.

Tangent.. Does anyone know if they sell a good replica of the ships anywhere? I would LOVE to get one. Especially one that would light up.

Cheers

 

[Johnny Angell]

I probably saw this film for the first time during its first theatrical release. If it had been in a matinee with a bunch of other kids and the wires had been this visible, I'm sure there would have been laughing and derisive remarks made.

It would have severely harmed the film's reception in my age bracket, I'm sure. At 8 years of age or so, glaring flaws can overwhelm the positive attributes of an otherwise very good film.

But now I've said all I want to say about the wires. They made a mistake in not removing them (IMHO), but that's water under the bridge. I still love the film.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I don't mind seeing the wires with an Ed Wood film or something like THE GIANT CLAW (anybody ever see that one?) - but not for WAR OF THE WORLDS. And it is probable that they were not noticeable on the big screen. This is a rare case where super-quality digital DVD restoration actually hurts something!

 

[Sam Davatchi]

Here I made a screengrab. It's important to say that when you look at the still picture, you don’t see the wires that much in contrast to seeing them in motion. So this screengrab is not a good example.



Also I couldn’t resist and pulled a George Lucas and removed the wires so you could see the result!